Unlicensed drivers still an issue in Onslow County

Published: Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 11:11 AM.

While driving without a license may not always be hazardous, it is most definitely a problem, according to local law enforcement officials.

Sgt. David Oglesby of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said there are several reasons someone might lose their license, but usually it starts with something small, like a ticket that doesn’t get paid.

“Sometimes people don’t have the money to take care of it (a traffic ticket), and then they start a hole that is really hard to get out of,” he said.

Oglesby said that it is easy to rack up fines for failing to appear and not paying for tickets, not to mention the costs to get a license reinstated. He said a $300 ticket could easily end up costing someone more than $2,000.

Beth Purcell, media liaison for the Jacksonville Department of Public Safety, said that while Jacksonville doesn’t have a monopoly on unlicensed drivers, they are still a problem in the area.

“Most of them obviously did something to warrant the loss or revocation of their driving privileges,” she said. “But they continue to drive, and a large percentage of them are not covered by an insurance policy. Unlicensed drivers cost law-abiding citizens a lot of money.”

Purcell said that if your out-of-state driver’s license is suspended in your home state, it is equivalent to driving without a license in North Carolina.

While driving without a license may not always be hazardous, it is most definitely a problem, according to local law enforcement officials.

Sgt. David Oglesby of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said there are several reasons someone might lose their license, but usually it starts with something small, like a ticket that doesn’t get paid.

“Sometimes people don’t have the money to take care of it (a traffic ticket), and then they start a hole that is really hard to get out of,” he said.

Oglesby said that it is easy to rack up fines for failing to appear and not paying for tickets, not to mention the costs to get a license reinstated. He said a $300 ticket could easily end up costing someone more than $2,000.

Beth Purcell, media liaison for the Jacksonville Department of Public Safety, said that while Jacksonville doesn’t have a monopoly on unlicensed drivers, they are still a problem in the area.

“Most of them obviously did something to warrant the loss or revocation of their driving privileges,” she said. “But they continue to drive, and a large percentage of them are not covered by an insurance policy. Unlicensed drivers cost law-abiding citizens a lot of money.”

Purcell said that if your out-of-state driver’s license is suspended in your home state, it is equivalent to driving without a license in North Carolina.

“If you have an NC license and go to another state and get a citation that you do not take care of, NC will revoke your license until you return to the charging state and pay off the citation,” she said. “Driving without a driver’s license and driving with a suspended driver’s license are both misdemeanors and can result in you being arrested and taken to jail.”

Oglesby said that the NCHP in Onslow County cited 1,721 unlicensed drivers in 2011 and 1,635 in 2012.

“That’s quite a few,” he said.

The sergeant said that while unlicensed drivers are not necessarily dangerous, they are a potential risk.

“If they have a ticket for something, it puts them in a potential risk category,” he said. “Not necessarily a license issue, but they have something they haven’t paid the consequences for.”

Contact Daily News Reporter Tabitha Clark at 910-219-8454 or Tabitha.Clark@jdnews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @TabithaLClark or friend her on Facebook